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Vampire Rules
There are, alas, many parts of Vampire the Masquerade that have to be clarified or defined in any game that grows beyond a certain basic size. Various rules are in place for game balance reasons, story reasons, because some part of the rules were vague or missing entirely, because some sections have to be clarified so that everyone understands how we will view things, or because the STs looked at something and said to themselves, "that makes no sense at all!" As changes are made over time, they will be updated here. If you have a question on something and it isn't clarified here, please contact TSM or Shamshiel for details. Vampire Staff TheSunMaid: Head Vampire/Changeling Storyteller Shamshiel: Site Administrator/Vampire AST Vampire Character Creation *Vampire the Masquerade on Whispers in the Dark uses the standard chat rules regarding character creation first and foremost, followed by the rules published in the Vampire core rule book, revised edition (WW2300) for anything that is not covered in the general character build rules. For clarification: You may not use the elder build rules in Elysium *You may name your character anything within reason. On the whole we prefer names that are “normal”. Ie. First and last name, something that could be found in modern nights, etc. The Clans In the city of Ft. Lauderdale there are not too many kindred as of yet. Of those present, Malkavian is most populous. Camarilla *The core members of the Camarilla (Brujah, Malkavian, Nosferatu, Toreador, Tremere, Ventrue) are all welcome within the city, and allowed without question. Schismatic Assamites should have little issue as well, though generally will require the flaw "Probationary Sect Member". *From the independents, Gangrel are allowed without hesitation. Assamites and Followers of Set require some justification, though do not qualify as “rare” characters. *From the Sabbat, occasional antitribu are allowed, however, they mostly keep to themselves as there is little trust of them in the court. Independents *Assamites, Followers of Set and Gangrel may enter the city (relatively) freely. The prince does ask that any independents that enter the city come to be recognized, however, grants them limited domain within the city, only seeking to know the kindred population of the city. *Of the Camarilla clans, it seems that the Brujah and Malkavians have more of a presence in the Independents than many of the other clans. This is not to say that others are unwelcome, but this seems to be the trend everywhere. *Of the Sabbat clans there seem to be very few that claim Independent status. Whether this is because of their propensity to be strongly for or against something, but rarely wavering or neutral, is unknown. But what about the Ravnos? *Good question! As this city is played post Week of Nightmares, the Ravnos are exceedingly rare and, as such, are subject to all the rules as regular rare characters. The Embrace Clarifications on who/what may and may not be embraced, as well as pertinent details within the game. What may be embraced *Mortals may be embraced, so long as both players are willing, with no real issues. *Fae: Special rules from Book of Lost Dreams: They must make a glamour roll vs (vampires banality + 2). If they fail, they die and the embrace fails. If they botch their fae soul is destroyed. If they net at least 1 suxx, they are embraced and the mists immediately claim them. They lose all birthrights and arts, and will remember their fae past only when enchanted. *Kinfolk may be embraced, but expect their werewolf kin to be…upset. *Mages may be embraced, however, their avatar is shattered and they lose their powers. *Orpheus Agents: Non-dead ones may be embraced, they lose their projecting abilities, though (until they learn a thaumaturgical/necromantic/auspex way to do it). Dead agents, of course, may not. *Sorcerers/Psychics may be embraced; however, they lose their powers. *Thralls may be embraced without technical issues, though expect their Demonic domitor to be upset. What may not *Demons: As the demon soul cannot be twisted into a vampire, as soon as the body is brought to the edge between life and death, the demon soul may flee to seek another host, leaving the body to die. *Mummy: Firstly, vampires would have a hard time drinking them dry with all the associated effects of mummy blood. After that, so long as the Mummy has a Balance of at least 1, the embrace will always fail, as the Mummy’s soul flees the touch of the vampire. *Werewolves are violently allergic to the blood of kindred, to the point that their body will immediately expel any that enters their body, before it has a chance to affect them. If drained entirely of blood, then fed, the body is incapable of rejecting the blood, but the soul is. The overwhelming majority of Garou souls will seek out Gaia rather than risk not only eternal damnation, but the risk that most kindred and all Garou, and, indeed, all creatures of Gaia will seek their destruction as Abominations. Merits/Flaws, Limits and concepts Is there a limit to how high my Attributes and Abilities can be? *By an large, no, however 4’s and 5’s will require justification. The exception to this is Appearance. "Because that’s the way my character looks" is always justification. Any limits on Backgrounds? *Resources are capped at 3 for characters who do not have a justification. As with all Venues, Influence is capped at 2 at creation. Generation is capped at 5 dots (8th Gen). No military force, arcane, elder status, elder generation and so forth. Please keep these in mind and you should be able to figure out if what you want will be banned or strongly discouraged. Age may be taken, however, this carries the caveat of it does not give any freebies. You are welcome to take age to represent your years of activity, however, it is up to you to explain why a character of your age has starting attributes and abilities. What about the Thin-Bloods or Dhampir? *Thin-bloods and Dhampir are permitted in Whispers in the Dark, following all the standard rules of the book, with a few minor additions. The flaw "Thin Blooded" is only permitted to those vampires whom are of the 14th and 15th generation. What about Elder or Ancillae? *No, you cannot. This is not to say that you can’t play in that style, it simply means that we would like characters to have less than one hundred years of “up” time, generally. New characters simply do not start with the dots that they would need to properly represent an ancillae or elder. Most of the chars on the chat right now are between 5 and 30 years awake. Can I play an Infernalist/Anarch/Iconnu/Black Hand Member? *Please see the section regarding rare character types. What Merits/Flaws are restricted? *Currently nothing is banned. ^_^ If a merit or flaw is crucial to your concept, great. If its been over-done or if it just doesn't fit, we'll let you know and we can work out a solution together. Also note: You may only use merits/flaws from within Revised Vampire: The Masquerade books. No werewolf, demon, fae, orphean, mage, Dark Ages, etc merits will be allowed. See list below for extremely restricted merits/flaws (we might allow them, but don’t expect it): **Embraced without the cup **New Arrival (everyone is, technically) **Infertile Vitae **Necrophile **And pretty much anything that is "elder" Can I play an Abomination? *No. Just, no. Vampire Specific Information What about my sire? *We do not require characters to have PC sires, however, by the same token, we do enjoy seeing this extra effort expended. It frequently proves to be a very roleplay rewarding effort. Can I start on a Path of Enlightenment? *Yes, however such cases are decided by an ST on a character by character basis, and such characters qualify under the rare character type rules. Also, please note, that the majority of Camarilla kindred are on the path of Humanity. Even amongst the Sabbat paths are not seen as common. Beyond this, we suggest that people try to develop Path Followers in character. Doing such can be very rewarding and grant much further depth to the reason why. What house rules are in place regarding paths? *First, if your path has the same virtues as Humanity (Conscience and Self Control), it counts as Humanity for certain mechanical effects (feigning life, Sense the Wyrm and so forth). This includes Path of Honorable Accord, Redemption and Sharia El-Sama. Other paths may be included on a case by case basis, however, we are not using Dark Ages material, so the various Roads are not going to be enumerated here. The reason for this being that Humanity is predominately a Christian-centric paths, but some other, compatible paths are aligned with other religions. *Second, if you play a follower of a Path, understand that others will not be under any obligation to play with you. Many paths are extremely inhuman and will be more likely to be hunted by wolves rather than be approached in a friendly manner by them. Even other vampires feel that there is something 'off' about an individual on non-humanity compatible paths. Any non-compatible path (ie. using different virtues) uses the lesser of your path rating or 3, which in the book is describes as "may be mistaken for human". *Third, if you have a particular concept in mind that DOES NOT work with an existing path, please speak to us. If it sounds reasonable to the storyteller staff, we may sit down with you and work out a new path that works. Keep in mind that if you wish for it to be based off of a real world religion/concept, and desire it to be compatible with Humanity (as above), we will expect that the basis is well researched, well thought out, and makes sense in the frame of other existing paths. If new paths are devised, we will post them in the wiki and link to them. Do I have to be a member of a Coterie? *We do not require that all Player Characters be members of coteries. Feel free to create your own alliances, formalized or not, or find one of the existing coteries. There are also a number of secretive groups within the city, if one knows how to find them… What about starting dots/disciplines? *We utilize the standard Whispers in the Dark starting dots for all of the mundane aspects of vampire characters. Beyond these, we use standard book rules for starting dots. In regards to starting disciplines, you cannot take any foreign clan specific disciplines at creation (ie. Serpentis may only be taken by Setites, Quietus by Assamites, etc.) Are there any particular rules regarding specific clans? *There are a few clans that have specific rules regarding their weaknesses and such. These will be expanded upon as needed: **Gangrel: Each Gangrel will start with at least one animalistic trait, to be decided by the player and agreed upon by the ST. Each Gangrel will get to decide if they wish to be loyal to the Camarilla or independent. **Caitiff: May start with whatever disciplines they see fit, with the exception of the thaum/necro/koldunic types, and good explanations for any clan specific disciplines. Also, you are limited to any one clan specific discipline (so you may have obetenebration, but not also take vicissitude and dementation) Ghoul Specific Information How about Ghoul starting dots? *Again, we use the standard Whispers in the Dark starting dots for all mundane aspects of characters. Beyond this, ghouls start with one dot in potence and one dot of one of their domitor’s in clan disciplines. They may not start with any of the magical disciplines (thaumaturgy, Necromancy or Sorcery). Do I need an PC Domitor? *All ghouls must have a domitor. We do not permit free ghouls at this time. If one makes arrangements to come to the city as a free ghoul and a PC vampire has already agreed to play out a meeting and domitorship within a week, they will be allowed. Can my PC be ghouled in-game? *Mortals may be ghouled freely without issue. Both players must agree to this (no forced ghoulings). This process follows the rules outlined in Ghouls: The Fatal Addiction, with the following mechanics in place: **After one drink the mortal is now considered a Ghoul to all methods of detection. The vampire and the mortal in question should seek out an appropriate ST or any of the admins for the sheet changes to be made. The vampire should also have it noted on their sheet under "retainers". At this point they also gain the free dot of potence and all the advantages and penalties of the status of a ghoul. **After 2 more nights have passed, the ghoul may develop their second discipline dot. Anything beyond this will require some amount of aid from their domitor for training and the like. **Beyond mortals, the only other character type that may be ghouled are Mages, and that comes with heavy IC consequences. Can ghouls get more than 2 dots in a discipline? *Whispers in the Dark uses the optional rules for maximum discipline dots for ghouls. These rules may be found on page 71 of the book Ghouls: The Fatal Addiction. Beyond this, no single discipline may go above 2 for starting ghouls. Character Backgrounds and Histories Why should I do a character history? *Although we don’t require everyone to submit a character history, it can have many important benefits. First off, it may help you with fleshing out your character, giving you additional ideas to work with. It gives a character more depth, allowing deeper interactions with other PCs on the chat. It also gives the Storytellers some insight to your character, helping us to evaluate how you will fit in with the types of stories that we run, verifying that the sheet lines up with the concept or story hooks that may be tailored to your PC. For rare characters we do require a background. What should I put in my background? *Your background shouldn’t be an epic. There are no requirements for length or font, etc. This is a game, not an English class (though it does show negatively if you cannot spell or form coherent sentences!) and should not be thought of as such. Your history should be long enough to at least cover key points of your character: **Who were you before the embrace? **How and when were you embraced? **Some information about what you’ve done since the embrace **How you came to be in Ft. Lauderdale *As you can see, we aren’t asking for a whole in depth history. Simply enough to get an idea of the character will suffice. That said, those that are willing to put more work into the background (ie. giving us perhaps an idea of what sort of family you had, an idea of your schooling, the first coterie that you were with, ambitions in life/undeath)will be looked upon more favorably than others, keeping in mind that longer is not necessarily better. Oh, and paragraphing is your friend. Who should I send my background too? *You may send your background to any of the Vampire Storyteller team: **TheSunMaid* Vampire/Changeling Storyteller **Shamshiel* Game administrator/Vampire AST *Drop ThePretenses before emailing (anti-spam tactic) Rare Characters What are the guidelines for rare characters? *We ask that you have played actively in the venue for at least 3 months. This gives us a chance to see how you play and what sort of person you are to some degree. *Rare characters must have a history/background that defines who the character is and what purpose they will have in the Vampire game on Whispers. *The character may not detract from existing characters (ie. Building a character simply to steal a position from someone or taking an existing characters concept and trying to overshadow it, etc.) *All other rules regarding the embrace or embracing other characters apply. If you attempt to embrace someone as a rare character type without both players seeking ST approval, the embrace fails and the character is dead. *Depending on the reason that the character is considered rare, they may not cause what is considered by the STs to be an excessive number of that type (ie. Too many of a certain clan or bloodline). What is considered excessive is entirely up to ST prerogative, based on current overall population, in game demand or necessity, etc. Are there rare characters without any limit? *Characters with more that 30 years as a vampire *Certain rare powers *Path followers (though particular paths may be restricted by numbers) *Particular character concepts (ie. Loremasters, former primogen from other cities, etc) What rare characters are limited? *For these characters, the STs will try to keep numbers in check to maintain game balance and sanity. There may be an introductory period while the STs ask for any characters that are already filling these types of slots to step forward to verify current active numbers. **Any given bloodlines **Any non-Tremere with Thaumaturgy **Rare disciplines (those that do not appear in the core book) Advancement Do I have to pay for status/in character rewards? *There are some things handled in character which will not require an XP expenditure. For instance, something may be given to you by another character or NPC, or you may gain status within the Court. Depending on the nature of the reward and the circumstances, the ST may either diminish or outright cancel the cost of the reward to you. Further information on status will be posted later. What do things cost? General: *With good reason only Vampires Ghouls Discipline Learning Rules There have been many questions since the chat started regarding the learning of new disciplines, costs, etc. These rules were written to clarify this and create a standard for all characters. What are the guidelines for disciplines? *In regards to discipline learning, please, do not send in for more than one dot in a discipline per week (ie. You may not buy auspex 2 and 3 in one request, though you may buy auspex 2 and obfuscate 3, etc) Other than this there is no learning time restrictions per se. *For the sake of character depth and balance, we ask that players not "climb the tree" as it was for disciplines. Simply spending XP to sequentially buy the next rank and then the next rank of a given discipline, and then doing the same to another can create issues later on. Not to mention that it is a good idea to have some amount of balance across several disciplines, as well as having the attributes and abilities to utilize them well. *Disciplines are divided into three classes or categories **In Clan* **Out of Clan, General* **Out of Clan, Clan Specific** *Caitiff use the book rules for any disciplines that fall in the first two categories. They are held to all other rules, save XP cost, for the third. **There are special rules for Thaumaturgy/Necromancy/Koldunism and the like later on. *Ghouls are permitted the in clan disciplines of their domitor plus Potence, Fortitude and Celerity. If a ghoul changes domitors later, and so long as the new domitors vitae is potent enough to sustain the levels that they have, they will retain all their previous dots. For example, a Toreador ghoul who has learned 3 levels of Presence will not lose those if he were to go to a Malkavian when his domitor died. If the Malkavian were 10th gen or higher, the ghoul would lose the third dot, but retain the lesser ones as the more potent vitae was replaced. What are the rules for In Clan Disciplines? *In clans do not require a tutor at any stage. *In clans do not particularly gain any benefit from a tutor, the nature is already in your blood. What are the rules for Out of Clan, General Disciplines? These would be all the non-clan specific disciplines that you do not have as in clans (Animalism, Auspex, Celerity, Dominate, Fortitude, Obfuscate, Potence and Presence) *These powers lie dormant within all blood and may therefore be learned without a tutor, though it will help. *With a tutor, the cost is curr x 6 rather than curr x 7 (Caitiff, curr x 5), any given tutor may only teach up to one level less than his level in the discipline (ie. A character with presence 4 may teach someone, thus granting them the discount, up to level 3. After that they are either on their own, find another teacher or wait until the teacher raises her own level) What are the rules for Out of Clan, Clan Specific Disciplines? These would be all out of clans that do not have special rules regarding them (Chimeristry, Dementate, Obtenebration, Protean, Quietus and Serpentis (and most other minor blood line disciplines like temporis)) *These all require a tutor for all levels of the discipline. There is no discount for these as they are limited to one particular blood line and are not generally available. *Expect that if your clan elders find you teaching a clan specific to someone else without you owing them at least a major boon or receiving at least a major boon (preferably life boon) in return, they will be very upset and may take measures to assure clan secrets remain secret. Save the Malkavians. Far too many of them are willing to share Dementation… Special Discipline Rules Certain Disciplines have special rules regarding their learning. These rules only apply to the Disciplines specifically listed here, others should fall under the rules posted above. What are the rules for the Magic Disciplines? (ie. Thaumaturgy, Necromancy and Koldunism) *Each of these may be taught by an instructor, but, they all qualify as out of clan, clan specific. *Most clans that have these are intensely secretive about them and refuse anyone else access to their materials and hunt any that teach their secrets, without consulting their elders, to Final Death. *There is, however, another way. Libraries. *Each dot in a library represents an expanded depth and access to more material. For these purposes, the following system will be used: **A library must be purchased, both financially and with XP like any background. - Each library represents a specific area (thaum, necro, koldun and so forth. **Each dot represents (lvl x lvl) standard library sized bookcases worth of material. **Each dot represents the number of paths available (treat as linguistics dots for totals (ie. A 4 dot library will have 8 paths within it’s bindings)) **A library may only teach up to it’s level x 2 of it’s purpose (ie. A level 2 thaum library can only teach up to thaum 4) **And do not expect it to be easy to find a library. Occult stores abound, but few carry books that would do any kindred any good on learning the blood arts. High levels of Occult or occult influence will definitely help, as will resources. What about rituals? *Rituals cost 2 XP per level of the ritual being learned. *A given character may learn a total number of dots in a given month equal to their Intelligence + Thaumaturgy or Necromancy. (ie. Int + thaum of 5 would allow you to learn 1 fifth level ritual, 5 first level rituals, 2 second and a first, etc.) *You may choose one free ritual per level of Thaumaturgy/Necromancy you buy, not per path. *Available rituals are limited to those published in revised V:tM books. Please do not take any from Dark Ages, second edition or from the separate ST sections of books as they are more for plot devices. Can I make my own rituals? Keeping in Whispers freedom of RP feel, we are keeping this available to players; though please follow the rules outlined below. *To create a ritual a PC must have an Occult knowledge of 5 and a thaum/necro level of at least the one that they want to create. *The PC must have their own laboratory as well as library for research. *Once the character meets these requirements they are too submit a draft of the ritual, it’s desired level and effect to one of the STs (Shamshiel or TheSunMaid) for review. *Once the ritual is approved and the level tweaked appropriately, you may begin research using the system below. **To complete a ritual requires a total number of successes gathered equal to the level of the ritual x 3 to complete. **The character may make one roll of intelligence + occult at diff 5 + rituals level per 2 weeks. **The character must spend 2 points of blood per level of the ritual each time they roll. **Once all this is complete, the character may spend the XP to learn the finalized spell. (yes, it still costs XP) **Once complete it is theirs. If they wish to publish it and share with the other kindred, that is their right. If they wish to destroy all copies of it, that is also their right. Personally developed rituals will not be added to the finalized list of rituals without player consent. What about Vicissitude? *Per the optional rules published in the Guide to the Sabbat, we are using the Tainted blood system. *If you ever imbibe at least one blood point of vitae from a vampire or ghoul that is infected with the disease, immediately roll stamina, diff 6. *With even a single success, you avoid infection. On a failure, you catch the disease. On a botch, you not only catch the disease, but also gain an immediate derangement. *If you catch the disease, immediately roll 3 dice and have an ST witness it for you. If no STs are available, screenshot it. E-mail the results to one of the Storytellers and we will take care of the pertinent notes. *The notes will reflect the cost to learn vicissitude initially, the cost per dot afterwards and the chance of gaining another derangement later. House Rules Feeding How do I feed? *As I know that Vampire STs cannot be on all the time, we are granting any ST permission to refill blood pools if a player can show them the roll for it. Mind you, by and large, we will not be worrying too much about feeding, as we expect players will be keeping track of their blood pools and that most vampires will work to keep their blood pools fairly full. *Hunting is a perception + survival roll, difficulty as on the following chart: **High class neighborhood: 8 **Suburbs: 7 **Downtown/seedier areas: 6 **Low rent district: 5 **Slums: 4 *Modifiers **Fame: Diff – fame **Auspex: Diff – rating **Wanted by mortal police: Varies (+1 to +3) *A player regains 1 BP per success on the roll. This roll may be done once per hour. *If you fail, no blood for you! *If you botch…well...let an ST know and we’ll run a scene for it. *Otherwise, please refer to all Vampire revised rules regarding frenzy and so on for feeding (Core book, pg 201 - 202) What happens when I feed on X? As the question arises from time to time, about feeding in cross-venue situations, I'm detailing here a guide for dealing with these, by the book, to the best of my knowledge. *Werewolf: 2:1 blood ratio, in other words, one bp by volume is 2 bp in potency. Side effects include increased diff to frenzy, +1 per bp gained, for as long as the blood is in your system. Something may be worked out, eventually regarding the potential for levels of potence or celerity. *Changeling: Normal blood ratio. Side effects are...unpredictable at best. A vampire that feeds from a changeling will be "enchanted" for 1 hour per bp in his system, per normal rules for enchantment. Toreador are likely to be stuck a while, Tremere puzzled by the ebb and flow, Brujah upset with the change in the world, etc. In addition, they roll courage at a difficulty of 3 + the bp taken. A failure indicates they are at the second threshold of bedlam; a botch lands them at the third with a derangement to boot. Exceptions exist, however, for Malkavians and Kiasyd, who will not end up in bedlam. *Mummy: 2:1 blood ratio. Bonus! You get one point of temporary Humanity for each point in your system. Even if you’re on a path. You are held to degeneration checks on your new humanity score (as well as your path, if you violate it while on mummy blood). If you are on a path you must make an instinct roll (diff of your humanity level) to proceed with any action that would violate the hierarchy of sin. Vampires still on the path of Humanity are much more aware of their actions and more able to resist. And Mummies, remember...each point of blood they take drop your sekhem by one as well. *Demon: Normal blood ratio. And well, let’s face it, if you do this, well...there are less pleasant things in the world. But not many. A demon is, quite simply, a tool, a creation of god, punished and cast out before Caine's curse. And Demon blood will be more than happy to refamiliarize you with what you are and the meaning of the word curse. For every point of blood you gain 5 points worth of the following curses (values in parenthesis): Repulsed by garlic (1), repelled by crosses (1), cast no reflection(1), Short fuse (2), vulnerability to silver(2), Deathsight (2), Beacon of the Unholy (2), Lord of the flies (2), Obvious Predator (2), Stigmata (2/4), soil dependence (2), cannot cross running water (3), Permanent Fangs (3), glowing eyes (3), grip of the damned(4), Flesh of the corpse(5), light sensitive(5). These will remain in effect for as long as the blood is in your system. *Mage/Sorceror/Orphean: They're mortals. They bleed, you feed. Nothin' special. Unless, of course they enchant their blood to do something to you... Disciplines Telepathy vs. Morality *Telepathy is an advanced, complicated discipline. Touching a foreign mind is not an easy task, and it is not without special moral complications. Reading surface thoughts without permission is akin to spying and/or theft and is considered a sin for characters of Humanity 6 or higher. *Digging into a subject's mind to pull out deeply-rooted thoughts and memories is a violation of the highest degree and is considered a sin for characters of Humanity 3 or higher. *Depending on the circumstances, intent and maliciousness, these uses could be considered even more or less heinous. Telepathy and Being Noticed *Reading a subject's surface thoughts does not automatically make the subject aware that they are being spied upon, though they may become aware through other means (intuition, Awareness, etc). *In the case of two-way communication, the subject is always aware of a foreign presence inside their mind, which is at the very least a little alien and may be downright traumatic depending on the nature of the communication. The subject does not automatically know who is contacting them. Potence *By the book, yes, Potence automatically adds your rating to all strength based actions, period. Including attacks, both melee and brawl. As far as Whispers in the Dark is concerned, Potence will automatically add it's rating to all strength based effects, save attacks. For attacks it will add to the strength rating that is rolled, rather than to the result. Obfuscate: Mask of 1000 faces *By default your mask has an appearance of 2. You may raise this based on your Manipulation + Performance roll (appearance equal to the number of successes rolled) or one may simply take the total of their dice pool and subtract 4 to determine the appearance score. If you are mimicking someone else's appearance, use the rules in the book. Path of Blood and its effects *Please note that blood of potency, if one reads it carefully, merely distills ones blood, it has no other effect. It does not render one immune to Dominate from others that are lower than your true generation, nor does it enable you to suddenly dominate them. It allows one to retain and use blood as if they were of a lower generation, that is all. Merits & Flaws Thin Blooded *Though it doesn’t specify in the book that there is a generational requirement for this, for sheer logic sake, we are implementing one now. One must be of the 13th generation or higher to take thin blooded as a flaw. Otherwise their blood is simply too strong for it. Merits and Flaws and how they interact with Disciplines *Some disciplines benefit from particular merits. Others do not. As we are not your TT STs, please send any inquiries regarding a merit or flaw and how it interacts with a discipline. We run many things very different from how your previous STs might have, so please, to avoid confusion, talk with us about it. *Acute sense + Auspex: Sight will help with aura perception, etc. *Enchanting Voice + Dom: Will work with any dom power delivered by voice, though if someone has the flaw hard of hearing or deaf they may make your roll more difficult or negate it entirely. *Natural Leader + Dom: Does not stack. Natural leader relies on your charisma, where as dom relies more on manipulation and direct subterfuge of the mind. Besides that, a 1 pt merit granting a 2 dice bonus is fairly bad to begin with, allowing that to apply to an already potent discipline, though, is outright problematic. Spirit Mentor *Spirit Mentor requires you to also have the merit Medium. Eerie Presence *Mortals are intrinsically aware that you are not natural. They don't consciously know this, but it will always make them antsy around you. Assuming you manage to ghoul one or spend gratuitous amounts of time with them (presumably explaining your nature at some point) they will gradually adjust and lose the penalty. Anything awakened (mages, werewolves, etc) will be no more put off by you than normal. Cast no Reflection *This means that you do not cast reflections on mirrored surfaces. Mirrors, ponds, properly lit glass, etc. This does not mean that you do not show up on cameras, motion sensors and so on unless it is getting your reflection from a mirror, in which case your reflection won't show, but you will. Congratulations, it's a flaw, not a B&E merit. You're a breach waiting to happen if a camera catches you at an inopportune moment. Blush of Health *This merit, in and of itself, simply means that you appear human, as opposed to an animate corpse. It does not mean that you are warm, that you breathe, etc. You're still an undead monster. Combined with a reasonably high humanity (6+) and Eat Food, you can attain the full breathing, warm bodied look without blood, but must eat food and drink water to keep your skin supple and not dry out. Also note, at Humanity 8 you can "fake it" (ie. colored skin, warm, breathing) for free as the cost to "fake it" by the book is 8 - your humanity bp per scene. For others there is the secondary talent of Masquerade, which at least one person in the court has and would be willing to teach. Important Personages for the Vampire Venue Camarilla Court 'Prince: '''Vincent Crane, Nosferatu Elder '''Seneschal: '''Sarena Ellis, Malkavian Elder '''Sheriff/Scourge: '"Wild Bill", Gangrel Ancillae